Extracts from an investigation into the physical properties of books as they are at present published

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^^ EXTRACTS FROM

An Investigation

INTO THE

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

of Books

S THEY ARE AT PRESENT PUBLISHED

UNDERTAKEN BY

Ti?e Society of Calligraphers

PRICE 50 CENTS

1919

^Published for the Society of Qalligraphers by

W. A. DWIGGINS AND

L. B. SIEGFRIED

BOSTON

EXTRACTS FROM

An Investigation

INTO THE

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

of Books

AS THEY ARE AT PRESENT PUBLISHED

UNDERTAKEN BY

The Society of Calligraphers

PRICE 50 CENTS

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T^ublished for the Society of Qalligraphers by

W. A. DWIGGINS AND

L. B. SIEGFRIED

BOSTON

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BY

L. B. Siegfried

NOTE

The accompanying extracts from the Trans-
actions of the Society of Calligraphers are pub-
lished with the approval of the Society. They
form a part of the exhaustive and unbiassed
Report returned by the Committee in charge
of the Investigation^ which Report will be pre-
sented in its entirety in the Annual Bulletin.
The report is of so surprising a nature that it
was deemed unwise to withhold all notice of
the findings until the annual publication. The
Society^ therefore^ has the honour to present cer-
tain portions of the Inquiry together with an
abstract of the Committee' s recommendations.

W. A. DwiGGiNs, Secretary

384^ Boy Is ton Street, Boston
December i, 1919

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A chart showing^^^J^^ntage of ex-
cellence in the physicaVpropeities of
books pubhshed since A9 10.

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Transactions oftlu
cJjdy 0

T may be said in introduction that the Society's
Investigation into the Physical Properties of
Books was undertaken by a special committee
whose personnel insured that its consideration
would be thorough and unbiassed.

The Committee began its labour by an examination of
all books published in America since the year 1910.
This examination forced upon the investigators the con-
clusion that "All Books of the present day are Badly
Made." The conclusion was unanimous.

Working out from this basic fact in an effort to arrive
at the reasons underlying the evil, the Committee held
numerous sittings in consultation with men concerned
with various branches of printing and publishing. From
these sittings there developed a mass of information of
an unusual and stimulating character.

The publishers have chosen from the Record of the
examination a few examples, not because they are extra-
ordinary but because they present typical points of view.
They are transcribed verbatim. It will be obvious that in
certain cases it has been no more than courteous to sup-
press the names of the persons assisting the investiga-
tion. For the sake of uniformity it has been deemed wise
to follow this practice throughout.

I. Mr. B.

Q. Mr. B , will you please tell the committee why

you printed this book on card-board?

A. To make it the right thickness. It had to be one inch

thick.

— Why that thick, particularly.?

— Because otherwise it would not sell. If a book isn't
one inch thick it won't sell.

— Do you mean to say that people who buy books
select them with the help of a foot rule.?

— They have to have some standard of selection.

— So that it is your practice to stretch out the text if
it is too short by printing it on egg-box stock.?

— Not my practice, particularly. All publishers do it.
We are obliged to use this and other means to bring the
book up to a proper thickness. You must remember that
our prices are not based on the contents of a book but
on its size.

— You mention other methods. Would you mind tell-
ing us what other methods you use.?

— We can expand the letter-press judiciously. We
limit the matter to seven words on a page, say, and so
get a greater number of pages. We can use large type
and can lead considerably.

— But does not that practice hurt the appearance of
the page .? Make a poor-looking page .?

— I am afraid I do not get your meaning.

— I mean to say, is not the page ugly and illegible
when you expand the matter to that extent.?

— You don't consider the look of a page in making a
book. That is a thing that doesn't enter into the produc-
tion of a book. If I understand you correctly, do you
mean to say that it matters how a book looks ?

— That was the thought in my mind.

— That's a new idea in book publishing !

— You were speaking of the pressure of industrial
conditions since the war. Under these conditions what
percentage of the traditions of the craft can you pre-
serve, would you say?

— The traditions of what craft ?

— The craft of printing, obviously. What I am trying
to get at is this : — There are certain precise and matured
standards of workmanship in the printing craft; these
standards are the results of experiment through nearly
five hundred years. How far are these standards effec-
tive under your present-day conditions .f*

— Those standards, so far as I know anything about
them, are what you would call academic. In the first
place, book-manufacturing is not a craft, it is a business.
As for standards of workmanship — I can understand
the term in connection with cabinet-making, for exam-
ple, or tailoring, but I should not apply the expression
to books. You do not talk about the "standards of work-
manship" in making soap, do you.?

— Then in your mind there does not linger any
atmosphere of an art about the making of books .?

— When you talk about "atmosphere" you have me
out of my depth. There isn't any atmosphere of art lin-
gering about making soap, is there.?

— You would class soap-making with book-making.?

— I can see no reason why not.

— May I ask why you were selected by Com-
pany to manage their manufacturing department.?

— Really, I must say that you overstep the borders —

— Please do not misinterpret my question. It is really
pertinent to the inquiry.

— It should certainly be obvious why a man is chosen
for a given position. I am employed to earn a satisfac-
tory return on the share-holders' investment. Is that the
information you want.?

— I think that is what we want. Would you then con-
sider yourself as happily employed in making soap as in
making books .?

— Quite as well employed, if making soap paid the
dividend.

— While we are on this subject, may I ask you how
you choose the artists who make your illustrations ?

— My practice is to select an illustrator whose name
is well known.

— Is that the only point you consider?

— I should say, yes. I am not aware of any other rea-
son for spending money on this feature. It is always an
uncertain detail and this way of making a choice puts
the matter on a safe basis.

— It is sometimes assumed that the illustrations
sholild have a sympathetic bearing on the story. Does
not that consideration have some weight with you in
choosing your artist.?

— None, I should say. You see, the pictures are not
really a necessary part of the book. They are a kind of
frill that the public has got in the way of expecting, and
we have to put them in. Illustrations as a rule stand us
as a dead loss unless they are made by a well-known
artist. Then, of course, they help sell the book.

II. Mr. McG.

A. The gentlemen of the committee must remember
that the book-publishing business is a gamble. Each new
issue, particularly in the department of fiction, is a
highly adventurous risk. Our percentage of blanks
would astonish you if we dared to state it. But any book
may turn out a best-seller. This hope keeps us going. It
is absolutely a gamble, as I say. You can see that under
these conditions we cannot spend very much money on
non-essentials. We have to strip the books down to the
barest necessities.

Personally I should like to see the firm put out noth-
ing that is not well designed and well printed. But as

an agent of the firm I have to set aside my personal
preferences. The directors are very much down on what
they call art.

— Has the firm ever looked into the question of good
workmanship as a possible aid to sales ?

— Not under the present management. The founder
looked at good work as more or less a marketing advan-
tage.

— What do you think caused the present manage-
ment to change from that opinion ?

— They haven't changed. They never had it. They get
at the matter from another angle altogether. Their pol-
icy is to reduce the production cost to the minimum.
The minimum in theory would be reached when the pub-
lic complained. The public hasn't complained, so you
can't tell when to stop cheapening.

You see the directors don't look at a book as a fabri-
cated thing at all. Books are merely something to sell —
merchandise. Our management — and all the rest of
them, for that matter — come from the selling side of
the business and do not have any pride in the product.

Old Mr. was a publisher because he liked books.

That made an entirely different policy in the old firm, of
course.

— To get back to the question of good workmanship
helping sales : — Here are two books published abroad
to be sold at 50 cents and 80 cents. They can very well
be called works of art. Do you not think that these well
designed paper covers would stand out among other
books and invite customers to themselves ?

— Undoubtedly they would.

— Have you ever tried the experiment of putting out
editions in paper covers of attractive design ?

— Never. It couldn't be done. People wouldn't buy
them.

— But you said a moment ago —

Moreover the difference of cost between cheap

cloth sides and paper covers of the kind you have there
is so slight that it wouldn't pay to try the experiment.

People want stiff board covers. It doesn't much matter
what is inside, but they insist on board covers.

— How do you arrive at that fact }
. — Through our salesmen.

— And you say that paper covers have never been
tried?

— Never. None of our travellers would go out on the
road with a sample in paper covers.

— A little while ago you said something about your
salesmen helping you to an understanding of the public
taste. I infer that you get considerable help from this
source.^

— Most valuable help indeed. We depend entirely on
the reports the sales force turns in in these matters. The
salesmen are in direct contact with the retailers and are
naturally in a position to feel the public pulse, so to
speak. Their help is invaluable. They can anticipate the
demand very often.

— I had reference more particularly to the way books
are made.

— Oh, on that point too. We never make a final de-
cision on a cover design, for instance, without showing
it to the salesmen. They very often make valuable sug-
gestions as to changes of colour, etc. They run largely to
red.

— It would seem, then, that the designing of the
books is very much in the hands of the salesmen.^

— Quite in their hands.

— Are the office-boys often called into consultation ?

— Mr. finds his stenographer a very great help

in passing upon certain points — illustrations, etc.

— Does it appear to you that the sales department
would be the one best qualified to pass on points of
design ?

— Well, there, you see — the books have to be sold —
that is what we make them for — and the sales depart-
ment is the one in closest touch with the people that buy

the books — that knows just what they want.

— The standards of quality, then, are set by the peo-
ple who buy the books ?

— Oh, absolutely so. How else would you move the
books .^ It is a merchandising proposition, you must
remember.

— But do you not think that people would buy de-
cently made books as willingly as poorly made books .f*

— At the same price, yes. No question about it. The
book-buying public doesn't worry its head about the way
books are made. It doesn't know anything about it. And
well made books cost more. The trade is committed to
a dollar-and-a-half article and can't risk going above it.

— Your opinion is that the price of a well made book
would be so high as to prevent its sale.?

— In the case of fiction, yes. The price has become
almost a fixture.

— We shall have to go outside of fiction, then, to look
for well made books ?

— ■ It amounts to that.
' — You have said that certain unproductive factors
prevent you from spending what you otherwise might on
good workmanship. What specific factors would you
mention .?

— Plates — electros. We plate everything on the
chance of its running into several printings. 80 per cent
of the books are not reprinted. You can see that the
money tied up in plates is a very considerable sum, and,
as I say, 80 per cent of it is dead loss. We are obliged to
take the chance, however.

— Has any remedy occurred to you ?

— If stereotyping could be revived as an accurate
process it might help us out. It would cost much less to
make and to store paper matrices than to make electro-
types. The difficulty here is that no one knows how to
make good stereotypes, and the stereotype plates at their
best are more trouble to make ready. Trouble with the
press-room, you see.

— Is it possible under good conditions to get satisfac-

tory results from stereotype plates ?

— Unquestionably. The books printed from this kind
of plates in the first days of the invention are entirely
satisfactory.

III. Mr. L.

Q. Can a trade-edition book be well made and sell for
$1.50?

— That depends on how high you set your standard.

— Well, let us not be too rigorous. Can it be made
better, say, than this book.?

— Beyond question. It will all depend upon whether
or not the printer has a few lingering memories of the
standards of printing.

— But should not the setting of standards come from
the publisher ?

— Oh yes, under ideal conditions. Both printer and
publisher should have a hand in it.

— How would you make a book of fiction to be sold
for $1.50.?

— Well, such a book could have a good title-page as
cheaply as a bad one — and the whole typographic
scheme would cost no more if it were logically done in-
stead of crudely strung together. By logically done I
mean with well proportioned, practicable margins and
legible headings, etc. The press-work on books is reason-
ably good but the "lay-out" or design is entirely neg-
lected. It calls for a little planning, of course, but no
more than should be available in any reputable plant.
It isn't so much that these books are badly planned as it
is that they are not planned at all.

— But most printing firms have a planning depart-
ment, do they not ?

— The planning in most presses is concerned with the
handling of material, not with the designing of material.
This is no doubt due to the fact that the Taylor System
has not yet got around to Aesthetic Efficiency.

— Are not the typographical unions concerned to
train their men on these points of design that you men-
tion?

— The unions have only one idea — and it is not con-
cerned with the improvement of printing.

— ^Are there any trade schools that teach these
things? Are not the employers' associations promoting
schools to train men in the craft?

— The employers' associations have one idea — a
little different from the idea of the unions, perhaps, but
not concerned with the improvement of printing. There
are trade schools but they teach only the mechanics of
the craft.

— Apparently, then, there is no place in this country
where one can learn how to design printing ?

— You can safely say that there is no such place.

IV. Mr. a.

Q. What is your own opinion on the subject of illustra-
tions in books ?

— In what particular do you mean?

— I mean, do you think that illustrations help or
hinder the quality of a book ?

— The question is too general to be answered easily.
May I ask you to be more specific ?

— For example, here is a "best-seller" with several —
five or six — half-tone illustrations. Do you consider
that these pictures make the book a more complete thing
as a specimen of book-making ?

— Most certainly not.

— Then would you say that illustrations in such
books were a detraction ?

— Illustrations such as these, yes. Though it would be
hard to detract from this particular book.

— It is a standard book — a standard type of book.

— I fear that it is.

— What kind of illustrations would you favour?

— For many books, none at all. In these books of cur-
rent fiction the pictures are either futile or else detri-
mental to the development of the plot. They give the
game away, so to speak, when the author may wish to
hold the story in suspense. The effort to avoid this disas-
ter accounts for the multitude of undramatic pictures
you see in books.

— Your theory of no pictures should appeal to the
publishers but I doubt if the illustrators will stand with
you.

— Illustration is a trade as well as an art.

— True. But we are trying to limit the inquiry to the
artistic side at present. When, then, according to your
deductions, would illustrations be called for?

— When they can make a stage-setting for the story.
When they ornament it or suggest it, perhaps, instead of
reveal it. Impressions and "atmosphere" instead of lit-
eral diagrams with a cross marking the spot where, etc.

— But perhaps people like the cross marking the spot
where.

— We are limiting the discussion to the artistic side,
are we not?

— What about the half-tone process of engraving?

— The process is a way of doing a thing that cannot
be done cheaply by any other means.

— Do you consider it a process that adds to the artis-
tic possibilities of book printing?

— You mean according to the standards that pre-
vailed in the earlier days of the craft?

— I do. Yes.

— According to those standards it seems to me that
half-tones will always have to be considered as necessi-
ties forced upon the book-printer. They demand a kind
of paper that is never a satisfactory book-paper. In the
case of the kind of books we are talking about the relief
line methods have always given the most artistic results,
because they are so closely related to the character of
type.

One regrets, however, to give up the chances for tonal

designs that the half-tone process provides. Probably the
designers and printers will work out a satisfactory rela-
tion between half-tones and type when the craze for
photographic detail passes a little. As things stand, I
should say that the best results are to be had with un-
coated book-papers and with line plates. It is true books
are rarely illustrated this way — current fiction, I mean
— but the method might be used to produce a very
attractive and unusual result.

— Then you would condemn the use of half-tones in
this kind of books ?

— If you mean the usual kind of half-tones printed
separately and inserted, I do. But if you are making a
book of travel, for example, the half-tones from photo-
graphs explain and justify themselves.

But on this whole subject of book illustration it strikes
me that if you are to make the design from the start you
might as well make it in harmony with the kind of paper
and printing you are planning to use, and get all the
artistic advantage of fitting your means to your limita-
tions.

— Are you familiar with the Christy-Holbein Test.^

— Yes. That is to say, I have heard of your applying
it', and remember that the percentages were very much
against Holbein.

— Ninety-three to seven, on an average. How do you
explain such a crudity of taste in these groups of people
otherwise well educated ?

— By the deduction that they are not educated. That
is to say that these people, cultivated in other ways, re-
act precisely like savages when confronted with pictures
or drawings. They "go for" the tinsel and glitter and are
opaque to the higher and more civilized values. They get
the most pleasure from drawings that they think they
could make themselves. This is the basis of the Eight-
year-old Formula widely applied in the department of
newspaper comics : "Make your drawing so that it can

be understood by a child eight years old."

All of this is clearly lack of training, because their
taste is good in other matters — music, for example, and
house furnishings.

— You would deduce, then, that the periodical and
book-publishing industry has failed to train the taste of
its public in such matters f

— It has done worse : it has depraved that taste. Be-
cause there was, not very long ago, a fine tradition in this
country in the line of illustration.

— Why should the publishers find any advantage in
depraving the taste of the public — as you say they have
done ?

— Because they turned their backs on the standards
of the publishing business and became merchandisers
solely. They had to sell the goods and they had to "sell"
a big new public. The quickest way to this public —
through flash-and-crash tactics — they adopted. And
naturally ran themselves and the public down hill.

— May there not be other sides to it, too ? May it not
be that the art schools are not now producing draughts-
men of a calibre to support the fine tradition you men-
tion }

— That may have something to do with it. But even
that is mixed up with the other. I think that the chief
difficulty is with the publishers.

— -And the public.'*

— The public will follow if the publishers lead.

V. Mr. S.

A. Are you not making the mistake of keeping too close
to the publishers } It seems to me that you will not get at
all the facts behind the situation until you get in touch
with the people we sell the books to. They are the factors
that bring about the conditions you object to. The pub-
lisher is merely a machine for selling the public what it
wants.

— Then the pubUsher has no selective function?

— Absolutely none.

— How does the public bring about the condition we
object to?

— Obviously by buying the books.

— I mean to say, how does the public prevail upon
you to sell it trashy books instead of well made books ?

— The public is entirely uneducated on the subject of
books, in your sense. People know nothing at all about
paper or printing or pictures or things of that sort. One
book is as good as another to any educated man so long
as he can read it. He doesn't know that there is any such
thing as good printing or bad printing or good or bad
taste in making books. Under these conditions we should
be fools to spend money on features that do not have any
bearing on sales. It's a simple business proposition.

— Would the public that you are discussing buy well
made books as willingly as trashy books ?

— Oh, absolutely. It's the books they are interested in
— what they contain, not how they are made. They
wouldn't know the difference.

VI. Mr. G.

A. What's the use of talking about standards in connec-
tion with things like these? These are not books. They
aren't fit to wad a gun with. I wouldn't have them in the
house. Nobody pays any attention to stuff like that.

There isn't what you would call a book on the table,
except this one, perhaps. That's printed in England and
sent over in sheets and bound on this side. But that one
is set in a bastard Caslon. It isn't the original Caslon
but a revision with the descenders cut off. See how he's
got his O upside down !

Those others — what's the use of talking about them
at all? It reminds me of the story about the China-
man—

— But, Mr. , do you not think it possible to get

up this class of books in a manner that would suit you
better?

— You can't hope to get anything like a decent book
until you do away with the damnable cheap paper and
the vile types. And then you will have to start in and
teach the printer how to print. There aren't more than a
half a dozen presses in the country that know how to
print. Most printing looks like it had been done with
apple-butter on a hay-press —

— What you say is unhappily true. What we are try-
ing to find out are the causes of this state of things.

— The causes are everywhere — all through the rattle-
trap, cheap-jack, shoddy work that is being done in
every kind of trade. Nobody cares for making decent
things any more.

The only cure is to get back to decent standards of
workmanship in everything again. But the case seems to
me to be hopeless. I try to do printing up to a decent
standard — and that is about all any of us can do. I
don't believe you can hope to do much good through
your societies and investigations. I believe in each one
doing his own job in the best way he knows how. That's
the only way you can raise the standard. It's the work
you turn out that counts.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE
COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATIONS

TWO main questions resulting from the Inquiry
present themselves to the Committee. The first
question is : — Is it within the power of the Society of
Calligraphers, of any society, or of Society itself, to re-
store to the printing of books a standard of good work?
The second and major question : — Are books necessary
to the present social state?

I. When the Committee began its work it assumed as a
matter of course that the established standards of print-
ing would serve it as guide-posts and criteria. It expected
to traverse a country where the highways were in need of
repair, perhaps, and the marks of direction dim, but on
the whole a negotiable country. It found a very different
state of things.

Instead of roads to be followed with some excusable
discomfort it found not even trails. Such highways as
had once been charted were obliterated. Not only guide-
posts but the most elementary blaze-marks were over-
grown and lost beyond any hope of recovery. Instead of
following the planned course of visit and consultation
the Committee was forced to reorganize itself into an
expedition of discovery. It has been fortunate to return
at all.

The collected data of the exploration can lead to but
one conclusion : That the whole fabric of Standards of
Workmanship will have to be rebuilt from the beginning.
Whether this can be done under the present state of
society is a matter to be discussed in connection with
the second question.

II. Are books necessary to the present social state? The
Committee's finding is, unanimously and conclusively,
No.

During the past twenty years many influences have
been at work to wean mankind from the use of books.
Automobiles, the motion-picture drama, professional
athletics, the Saturday Evening Post — these operated
even before the Great War to discourage the habit of
reading. Since the war the progress of society — cul-
minating, in America, in the dictatorship of the pro-
letariat — has effectually completed the process. Books
as an element vital to the welfare of the race have been
eliminated.

The Society of Calligraphers is thus freed at one
stroke from the obligations implied in the first question.
But there are still books in existence, and for these the
Committee feels a professional concern. For the In-
vestigation, if it has done nothing else, has disclosed one
most cogent and ineluctable fact : that wherever there is
contact between books and the public, the effect upon
the books is deleterious.

So far as the immediate situation is concerned, the
public, by discontinuing the contact, has obviated the
danger. But in a period of revolution no condition can
be taken for granted as fixed. It is quite within the
range of possibility that the public, under compulsion,
may turn again to books and reading ; and this, the Com-
mittee believes, is a contingency the Society should be
prepared to meet.

Publishers as a group promise, for the immediate
future, to be an harassed and unimpressionable body.
Influence upon them can be brought to bear only
through public demand. Should a public demand for
books revive, it will be imperative for the Society either
to quench it altogether — a project which the Committee
has discarded as visionary — or to take it in hand at its
inception and give it constructive shape by forcing upon
public attention such knowledge of the more elementary
points of good taste as shall make impossible the further
prostitution of standards. As the most direct means to-
this end it is urgently recommended by the Committee
that the Society take up at once the study of advertising.

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE

STAMPED BELOW ,

AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS |

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY |
WILL IN9REASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $t.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.

JUL ;* 1837

V

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•^AP 1 9 19B7

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GaylordBros

Makers

Syracuse, N Y.

PAT. JAM. 21. 1908

4ob05<i

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